Sudan UAE-backed leader says met Israel PM to 'protect national security'

Burhan's first remarks about the meeting in Uganda, talks that surprised even Sudan's cabinet, came after he briefed the northeast African country's ruling sovereign council which he heads.

"I took this step from the standpoint of my responsibility... to protect the national security of Sudan and achieve the supreme interests of the Sudanese people," Burhan said in a brief statement released after he met the council and top ministers.

On Monday, Netanyahu's office said he had met Burhan in the Ugandan capital Entebbe, in a previously unannounced move.

Israel remains technically at war with Sudan, which supported hardline Islamists including Al-Qaeda during the decades-long reign of autocrat Omar al-Bashir, ousted amid mass protests last year.

The Palestinian leadership has denounced the meeting as "a stab in the back", just days after the Israeli leader and US President Donald Trump unveiled a controversial peace plan, widely seen as skewed towards Israel.

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"I stress that examining and developing relations between Sudan and Israel is the responsibility of the concerned institutions, as according to (Sudan's) consitutional declaration" signed following Bashir's ouster, Burhan said.

"I also confirm that Sudan's principled stance on the Palestinian issue and the right of its people to an independent state is and will remain firm, in keeping with Arab consensus and Arab League resolutions."

Netanyahu's office said on Monday that he and the Sudanese general had "agreed to start cooperation leading to normalisation of the relationship between the two countries".

It said Netanyahu believed post-Bashir Sudan is headed "in a new positive direction" and that he had also expressed this view to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"Burhan is eager to help his country modernise by taking it out of isolation and putting it on the world's map," it said.

Just a day later, Netanyahu said he obtained permission to fly Israeli aircraft into Sudanese airspace.

The Uganda meeting came after Sudan said Pompeo had invited Burhan to Washington for an official visit, the first such invitation to a Sudan ruler in more than three decades.

The United States still classifies Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism, a legacy from the rule of Bashir who in the 1990s hosted Osama bin Laden.

'Stab in the back'

Late on Monday, Sudanese government spokesman Faisal Mohamed Salih said the cabinet had only learned of the meeting at Entebbe through media reports.

"We, the members of the cabinet, were not notified or consulted about this meeting," Salih said in a statement.

Sudan under Bashir was part of the decades-long Arab boycott of Israel over the Jewish state's treatment of the Palestinians and occupation of Arab lands.

In the wake of the 1967 war in which Israel captured Palestinian lands, Arab leaders held a historic meeting in Khartoum to announce what became known as the 'three nos' - no peace, recognition or negotiations with Israel.

Since then, Egypt and Jordan have recognised Israel, and relations have been easing between Israel and Gulf Arab states in part due to shared concern over Iran's role in the region.

The Palestinians have been seeking a united front since Trump last week unveiled his Middle East plan.

The initiative gave the Jewish state the US green light to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank, as well as the Jordan Valley, a key territory Palestinians see as their future state.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation called Burhan and Netanyahu's meeting "a stab in the back of the Palestinian people".

In a statement carried on official news agency WAFA, the organisation's chief Saeb Erekat accused Washington and Netanyahu of "trying to liquidate the Palestinian cause".

The Sudanese Communist Party, which is part of the umbrella protest movement that led to the ouster of Bashir last April, echoed that condemnation.

"What happened at the meeting between Burhan and Netanyahu is a stab in the back of Sudanese people's struggle against imperialists and also their continuous position in supporting the Palestinians," party spokesman Fathi Fadoul said in a video broadcast on the party's Facebook page.

Read also: Surrender to Israel or disappear: Trump's 'Deal of the Century' is an ultimatum to Palestinians

"We also condemn the statement from the cabinet. The cabinet has to say directly what its position is about the meeting rather than saying it was not notified about it."

Sudan's security and defence council will meet to discuss Abdel-Fattah Burhan's shock meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the country enters shock.

Meanwhile, Sudan’s Journalists’ Union lashed out at Burhan's meeting for Netanyahu, describing it as "a black day".

The union deplored Burhan's meeting as a "the deepest stab in the back and heart of the Sudanese people, who have always been supportive of the Palestinian cause".

"We, the Sudanese journalists, will be at the forefront of those who reject this failed and defeated normalisation step of treachery," the statement said.

Burhan currently serves as the head of Sudan's transitional ruling body, the Sovereign Council, and had been blamed for a massacre of peaceful Sudanese protesters in June 2019.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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